HANCEVILLE, Ala. – West Point and Cold Springs clashed in Wednesday night’s final county tournament matchup with a spot in the varsity boys’ semifinals on the line and the Warriors punched their ticket to the next round with a 68-42 win over the Eagles.
Cole Bales and Jay Lamar exchanged three-pointers to start the game and a pair of Pressley Burtis free throws put the Warriors in front 5-3 early in the first quarter. Bales and Lamar each hit another three to make it a 9-6 game later in the opening period and Lamar scored five straight to stretch West Point’s lead to 14-6. However, Bales got the Eagles on the board one more time before the end of the first, knocking down a three from the corner as time expired to trim the lead to 14-9 at the start of the second.
Back to back Brier Taylor baskets extended the Warriors’ lead to 18-9 early in the second but Ethan Day answered with a three on the other end to make it an 18-12 game. Lamar sank a pair of free throws and Taylor laid one in to put West Point ahead 22-12 and JD Cochran laid one in midway through the period to make it 24-12. Lamar hit two more free throws and a baseline jumper to give the Warriors a 28-12 lead, but Day scored four straight points on the other end to stop the run and bring the lead down to 28-16. Bales buried another three to make it a 28-19 game with less than three minutes remaining in the half and he added a pair of free throws later in the period to make it 28-21. Baskets by Jaxon Shelton and Lamar gave West Point a 32-21 lead and Kolten Perry drilled a three from the right wing in the final seconds of the quarter to put the Warriors in front 35-21 at the halftime break.
A couple of Perry free throws added to West Point’s lead early in the third and baskets by Perry and Jacob Harbison made it a 41-24 game midway through the period. Tycen Kilgo exchanged backets with Cochran to make it 43-26 with three minutes remaining in the quarter but later in the quarter, Bales scored seven straight points to trim the lead to 44-33 with just over a minute to play in the third. Matt Williams laid one in for Cold Springs with 40 seconds on the clock and the Eagles went into the final frame trailing 47-35.
West Point started the fourth with a 9-4 scoring run to extend its lead to 56-39 and Lamar drained a three from the right wing to make it a 59-39 game with just under four minutes remaining and the Warriors cruised the rest of the way to defeat the Eagles 68-42.
Lamar led the way for West Point with 29 points in the win, followed by Perry with 12. Bales finished with 24 points in the loss for Cold Springs.
West Point will now advance to play Holly Pond in the varsity boys’ semifinals Friday night at 7:30.
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